The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
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The Robber Bride

Author: Margaret Atwood

Narrator: Bernadette Dunne

Unabridged: 19 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/02/2011


Synopsis

From the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments—one of Margaret Atwood’s most unforgettable characters lurks at the center of this intricate novel like a spider in a web. The glamorous, irresistible, unscrupulous Zenia is nothing less than a fairy-tale villain in the memories of her former friends.

Roz, Charis, and Tony—university classmates decades ago—were reunited at Zenia’s funeral and have met monthly for lunch ever since, obsessively retracing the destructive swath she once cut through their lives. A brilliantly inventive fabulist, Zenia had a talent for exploiting her friends’ weaknesses, wielding intimacy as a weapon and cheating them of money, time, sympathy, and men.

But one day, five years after her funeral, they are shocked to catch sight of Zenia: even her death appears to have been yet another fiction. As the three women plot to confront their larger-than-life nemesis, Atwood proves herself a gleefully acute observer of the treacherous shoals of friendship, trust, desire, and power.

About Margaret Atwood

It seems as though some people carry out their interests in many ways. Such has been the life of Canadian born Margaret Atwood. For someone who did not begin school until the age of 12, Atwood became an avid reader, which probably encouraged her development of varied interests. She identifies as a poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, inventor, teacher, and environmental activist. I doubt that spare time is in her agenda.

Beginning in 1961, Atwood has published 18 poetry collections, 18 novels, 11 non-fiction books, short fiction writings, two graphic novels, and various other smaller writings, both fiction and non-fiction. She has received several awards for her writings, with some of her works having been adapted for television and film. Those works increased her public exposure even more.

Atwood was married twice, divorced from one husband, and lost her second husband in 2019, after his unfortunate struggle with dimentia. The family, Atwood and her daughter, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson, had moved to a farm near Alliston, Ontario. Atwood has sister, Ruth, and a brother, Harold.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lavande on October 02, 2007

I like a number of Margaret Atwood's works but not this one. It was like a Lifetime movie without the benefit of Tori Spelling and a fun, melodramatic plotline. Oh, the plotline was melodramatic all right but it was far from fun or even insightful. Three friends (all of them stereotypes of the post-......more

Goodreads review by Edan on December 04, 2013

My sister Lauren once said something both wise and ridiculous, and I think Atwood's beautiful, readable, and funny novel echoes the sentiment: "Women are crazy. Men are stupid." In The Robber Bride we get a peek into the lives of three women: petite academic Tony, new age, delicate Charis, and grega......more

Goodreads review by Glenn on March 25, 2019

This is the thirteenth Margaret Atwood novel I’ve read, and it’s easily one of her most enjoyable. Not her best, mind you, but lots of fun, and highly, highly readable. Plus: a lot of the book takes place a block away from where I currently live and work in Toronto. Three middle-aged former college f......more

Goodreads review by Helene Jeppesen on October 12, 2016

4.5/5 stars. This novel is amongst my favourites by Margaret Atwood so far because it deals with something that is relevant to everyone. It deals with Zenia, a woman who has poisoned several lives and basically destroyed Tony, Charis and Roz, the three main characters. We all have this kind of perso......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on April 09, 2025

3.5. Not her best, not her worst. I found this uneven. Like many books from multiple POVs, it really took to page 100 to get going for me, and my interest-level in the 3 females differed the whole time. If this weren’t written by Atwood (one of my favorite writers) in her witty, sharp prose, I may h......more


Quotes

"Funny, thoughtful, moving. . . . Atwood's plotting is masterful, and her humor is razor-edged, sexy, and raucous." —The Washington Post

“Vividly written, acutely observed and . . . very possibly the most intelligently tongue-in-cheek novel of the year.” —Salman Rushdie, The Independent

“Moving amid these three women, touching up their portraits with one perfect detail after another, conjuring Zenia from their memories and tears, Atwood is in her glory. What a treasure she is.” —Newsweek

"Margaret Atwood continues her long-running roll, offering us the good fortune of yet another disturbing and brilliantly conceived work of fiction." —Chicago Tribune